Live 4 Metal - Reviews http://www.live4metal.com/reviews-602.htm Home | News | Tour News | Reviews | Live Reviews | Interviews | Black Metal | Contact Info | Cradle Of Fun | Site News Allerjen - No Guts No Glory (Psychophonic Records) Review by Marco Gaminara This UK trio harking from Manchester consists of John Dower on vocals and bass, Paul Wilkinson on guitar and vocals and drummer Paul Tarbuck. And they are damned heavy. Musically they are thrash with the occasional blast thrown in for good measure, but vocally there are coarse and guttural growls that are as low as the detuned bass guitar and then slightly higher pitched growls in the range of the guitar. Originally recorded for another label in 2006, but only after severing those ties and whatnot, did it get released now. Opener and title track "No Guts No Glory" is a statement that these guys are willing to put everything on the line to make this as heavy as possible and then they proceed to do so. A simple guitar riff over pounded drums starts "Courage Will Find You" 'til the guitars kick in with full force and step everything up a notch. A funky slap bass intro takes us to "Scorch" where the guitars assist on the tune, and dual vocals of growls and deeper growls bounce along to the staccato beat. Plodding along like a mammoth, "Anger Personified" carries itself in a way that the better Bolt Thrower tracks do, with long drawn out growls and smashed snares. Slow and melodic from the outset "The Heartbreaker" pounds into "Demise Of The Prophecy" which keeps a similar pace at first and then steps things up to a great headbanging beat. The fast drumming on "Fallen" misleads you into thinking that everything else is fast too, but the slower guitars and vocals work well over their tempo giving it an interesting dynamic. If it weren't for the death vocals on "Resurrection", I would say it's very rocky at first, but ends very thrashy, which "Until All Are One" does the whole way through. Very choppy rhythms for "Fire In The Sky" are punctuated by sharp snares and a solid backbeat which actually sounds better live. And speaking of live. Added to the original album recording are two live tracks in the form of "The Heartbreaker" and "Fire In The Sky (Barry Is A Spoon)" which are on the album itself. www.allerjen.com | www.psychophonic.net Arsis - We Are The Nightmare (Nuclear Blast) By: Dave Schalek Damnit, I really want to like this album! In 2004, melodic death metal was stagnating, to say the least, and was straying too far from death metal to continue to hold my interest. Arsis’ monstrous debut and the follow up EP, “A Celebration Of Guilt” and “A Diamond For Disease”, respectively, blew just about everyone away and the future looked very bright indeed for this young group from Virginia. 2006 saw the band not slowing down with “United In Regret”, an album that I really liked but was looked at as a lateral move by most everyone else. A jump from Willowtip to Nuclear Blast soon followed and has now led to the release of the band’s third full-length, “We Are The Nightmare”. This album absolutely shreds up the technicality with all over the map riffing interspersed with melodious guitar work, precise drumming with plenty of tempo variation, and vocals evoking more than a hint of Angela Gossow. In short, a near seamless blend of melodic death metal on the Arch Enemy side of the genre with plenty of technical death/ thrash thrown in for good measure. But, damnit, something is lacking. An emotional response to the music is absent. Also, the songwriting, while slick and professional, is soulless. I hate to say it, simply because everything else is present in spades, but I’m ultimately somewhat disappointed by what I hear on “We Are The Nightmare”. It took me a couple of listens to put my finger on it, but Arsis has failed to deliver an emotional impact with “We Are The Nightmare”. Yes, I do find myself tapping and nodding along to the songs and I’m somewhat warmer towards the album than I was with my first run through, but Arsis has failed to deliver that breakout album that would’ve solidified their place in the pantheon of great bands. I’m actually a little pissed about that. www.nuclearblastusa.com 1 of 5 4/24/2008 10:41 AM Live 4 Metal - Reviews http://www.live4metal.com/reviews-602.htm Asia - Phoenix (Frontiers/EMI) Review by Metal Mark Back in 1982 I couldn't afford albums yet, so my main exposure to music was the radio. I was only 12 so I easily soaked in what was coming in to my room through the various rock and pop channels of the day. The radio would eventually lead me to bands like Van Halen, Judas Priest, Dio and others. However a number of pop, AOR and other forms also came to me. One of those was Asia as I was taken in by the melodies and highly polished hooks of songs off their self-titled debut. Subsequent albums like Alpha and Astra didn't quite have the same formula or appeal for me. They have bounced back and forth with various releases over the years, but now in 2008 we get the first release since 1983's Alpha to feature the entire original line-up. The opener "Never Again" comes on with a smooth and steady approach that was pleasing enough, but maybe a little flat. At this point I was thinking that it wasn't a bad start and if they could pick it up a little that this album might be something. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as "Nothing's Forever" is an appropriate title because it's sappy vocals and damp music had me thinking that this band didn't have a whole lot left. It's gets worse though as track three "Heroine" is stomach churning, mind-killing sap at it's worse. It's so bad that it sounds like it could be a spoof of 1980's love songs, but they are actually trying to be serious so it really is that bad on many different levels. Several other songs after this fall into the same vat of syrupy worthless pulp as well. It just seems like Asia forgot about strong song structures, hooks and building up anything on this album. Instead it's full of a few brief flourishes of music here and there with lots of clichés and filler taking up the bulk of the time. The closer "An Extraordinary Life" might have some genuine life to it or it may just seem better than it is because many of the other songs before it are so poor and empty of any spirit. Overall Phoenix serves as a strong reminder that you can't always relive the past. Asia may be hoping that this album picks up on their success in the early 1980's, but one play will quickly have listeners thinking otherwise. http://originalasia.com Belphegor - Bondage Goat Zombie (Nuclear Blast) By: Dave Schalek The always solid Belphegor return with yet another full-length, their third in three years while still taking the time to exhaustively tour the U.S., and elsewhere, quite extensively. This one’s entitled “Bondage Goat Zombie” and continues the stylistic assault of blackened death metal with the organic, rough edge that the band is known for. Not much changes on this album with regards to their last few full-lengths, and that’s just fucking fine with me, frankly, as I’ve needed a serious dose of blackened death metal to light up my day recently. Chock full of Satanic sexual imagery, bondage, and sadomasochism, “Bondage Goat Zombie” has a great range of mix of songs overlaying a solid blackened death metal base. Organic riffing, all out blasts (continuing the band’s penchant for burning through drummers), a great, dual vocal delivery with an original, understandable growl and screech, some thick bass, variations in tempo, you name it, are all present on “Bondage Goat Zombie”, probably the best written of the stylistic triumvirate of the band’s last three full-lengths. In addition to the all out blasts, there are some nice variations in tempo with plenty of heavy dirges intermixed with the assault and even a few moments of, dare I say it, melody with some definite concentration upon liquid guitar work and the odd solo or two. The result is a great mix of catchy songs while still keeping the focus on flattening the listener with a Satanic, sexually laced death metal assault. The album also has the nice quality of increasingly growing on you with each listen, rather than finding your interest waning with time. For some reason, I always find myself comparing Belphegor to Behemoth, although the two bands are somewhat stylistically dissimilar. I find that Belphegor’s less technical, more organic approach to blackened death metal is particularly effective and I eagerly await the band’s releases. You can’t go wrong with “Bondage Goat Zombie”; buy or fucking die. www.belphegor.at | www.nuclearblast.de 2 of 5 4/24/2008 10:41 AM Live 4 Metal - Reviews http://www.live4metal.com/reviews-602.htm Crimson Glory - Self Titled Re-issue (Metal Mind) Review by Metal Mark Back in the mid 1980's before progressive metal was even really a label, there were a few pioneers who were establishing the sound that would eventually become it's own genre of metal.